The Aftermath
by emergency-heart
Summary: Another 'Leddi' oneshot: When Sacha Levy was stabbed, she was the one who stepped in and saved his life, but when all calm has been restored on AAU, who will be the one to look after her when the shock sets in and the horrific events return to haunt her?


**Hi**** Everybody, apologies it's taken way longer than I promised for me to write this, but here's my next Leddi oneshot. It is set after Sacha was stabbed and Eddi had to step in and save his life. Hope you guys enjoy it ! **

In the aftermath of the incident, everyone commended her for her valiant strength and level headedness in a time of dire crisis. She had jumped to the aid of her stricken colleagues in their deepest, darkest hour of need and potentially saved her friends life and for that she was hailed a 'hero.' But once he was safely in the confident hands of Michael Spence, the ward had been restored to normality and the police had collected their witness statements and detained the culprits, she couldn't have felt less like a hero if she'd tried. She needed to get away.

She wasn't exactly sure why she had ended up selecting the Wet-Lab as her place of solace, but it felt right. Perhaps it was because she knew people wouldn't look for her in the place where her anti-social, antithesis of a colleague chose to reside when his caravan became too enclosed for him. Or perhaps it was because right now, a very very small, part of her subconscious wanted it to be him that found her, as opposed to anyone else. He wouldn't necessarily understand, but he wouldn't question her motives or force her to talk if she didn't want to. The second she crashed through the door into the darkened room, she crumbled and sank to the floor, leaning against the desk for support, the shock of the past hours events washing over her like a tidal wave of horror. She waited for the tears to come and release her pain, but they didn't and her bloodied scrubs remained tear-free and un-smudged.

She drew her knees in tight to her chest, as though to protect herself from her thoughts and the guilt began to course through her veins like a river. The scene where he fell replayed over and over in her mind. Oh God. His blood. There had been so much of it. She should've done something before. She should have stopped it. She should have put her foot down as Senior Staff Nurse and had the stupid boy removed from the ward. She should have spotted the other patients vulnerability and had him moved to a side bay or something. How could she possibly consider herself to be a good nurse after today? She'd been preoccupied, planning to boast to Luc about how she'd not had a drink since he before had kissed her a few weeks ago, in the hope that he might offer to take her out for some orange squash instead to celebrate. Despite everything between them, she'd been feeling pretty good recently, but now she felt like downing a whole bottle of whiskey just to numb the shock.

"I thought I might find you here." – Luc's voice uttered softly, but still enough to startle her slightly. _Well if one thinks of the devil..._ She thought to herself, trying to remain as pragmatic and as unattached as possible. With a click the room filled with light and revealed Eddi's pale and stricken features, he could see she hadn't been crying but that wasn't always a good sign. "I'd congratulate you for your heroics and potentially saving Sacha Levy's life earlier, but judging by the state of you, I'm guessing that would be the wrong thing to say." He continued grimly. Eddi made no effort to speak but moved her head slightly indicating that he was right.

"I came to see if you were alright." He added finally, scanning her face with genuine concern when, suddenly her face began to crumple and a solitary tear cascaded down her cheek.

"Why?" Eddi snarled suddenly feeling rather cornered and lashing out, "Why are you suddenly so concerned about someone you usually don't appear to give two hoots about?"

Unfazed by her outburst, Luc didn't bother to explain; he didn't need to, she knew deep down why he cared. So instead he lowered himself to the floor so that he was sat down beside her.

"I should have stopped it. I should have, I should-" She choked, her voice breaking as the words stuck in her throat.

Luc said nothing in response but stiffly placed a tentative arm around her shoulders. He was half expecting her to pull away and shout at him, so he was taken aback somewhat when she instinctively rested her aching head against his lean chest, finding some comfort in his steady heartbeat.

"Don't be stupid Eddi" he murmured in her ear, "You couldn't have done any more than what you did and what I hear you did do, was amazing. Sister Williams is currently upstairs, telling anyone who will listen about how you staunched his bleeding, when she and Ella couldn't cope. Like it or not- without you Sacha probably would've bled to death from what it sounds."

She shook her head, unable to cope with the idea in her exhausted mind.

"I should've had the boy removed from the ward when he kicked up a fuss the first time." she sighed resignedly.

"...And that's the beauty of hindsight," Luc reasoned. "How were you to know things were going to escalate like that? How could you possibly know that the other patient would threaten him like that and how on earth could you have known that Sacha would try and get between them?"

"Stupid, brave idiot." Eddi added under her breath.

"Look, all that matters is that you didn't lose your head, meaning you may well have saved his life." He insisted firmly.

Eddi held out her trembling hand, "Yeah and look at me now," she sniffed- a hint of sarcasm tainting her voice, "Cool as a cucumber." Luc gently took Eddi's hand in his and in a gesture almost as tender as the first time he had kissed her and laced his fingers through hers, a valiant attempt on his part to silently signify that he was there for her, despite all of his many short comings. He wasn't sure how but Eddi seemed to get the message, she shifted so that she could see his face.

"What about you?" she asked, searching his unreadable features for signs of trauma.

"I'll be alright. I'm just glad I didn't have to witness it." He grimaced, "It's you I'm worried about."

"I'll be ok. It's Sacha we need to worry about really. Is there any new on how he's doing?" Eddi inquired, unsure if she would want to know the answer.

Luc sighed in response, wishing he could bring her more comfort in his response than the facts would permit him.

"I spoke to Michael just now. He did his best, Sacha's stable for now- but the next few hours are critical, he's not out of the woods yet. The scalpel hit the celiac artery; he lost a lot of blood."

Eddi couldn't help but let out a strangled gasp, fresh tears falling from her eyes and on to the top Luc's sky blue scrubs as he pulled her closer once more. She was terrified for her friend, what if what she'd done hadn't been enough. What if Sacha died? She couldn't bear it. That man saw the best of everyone and he'd seen a spark in her so few had- despite originally mistaking her for a prostitute on their first meeting. Even that had made her chuckle eventually; a good man like him couldn't just die- could he? She settled her head back against Luc's chest, her eyes fluttering shut in an attempt to shut the horrifying images out of her mind.

Luc wasn't certain how long Eddi had been sat down here on her own, but he thanked his lucky stars that Mr Spence had permitted him to go and look for her- calling in a team of on-call doctors to hold down the fort on AAU in his absence. He had quickly realised that nothing he said would make Eddi feel any better, so he simply let his instincts take over and let her rest her quaking body against his and let his strong arms keep her warm and safe. They sat curled together wordlessly, enjoying the comforting silence for what seemed like hours until, her trembling ceased and her breathing steadied and slowed, causing Luc to raise an eyebrow in slight alarm.

"Eddi," he hissed nudging her cautiously, panicking slightly when she didn't respond fully. Instead she muttered something incomprehensible and buried her face in his chest. That was when he realised; she was sound asleep and breathed a gentle sigh of relief. In the same way a child's body would, something traumatic had overcome her and exhausted her to the point where her body had shut down into what he hoped would be a peaceful slumber. Here was not a good place to sleep however, and he was certainly not great at being a pillow, in fact he was beginning to get a dead arm, where she was propped up against him. Trying his best not to disturb her, he scooped her small frame up into his arms and headed for the rear exit of the hospital, deeply conscious that his sleeping companion would hate to be seen by her colleagues in such a state, however innocent the facts were. She barely even stirred as he clumsily unlocked the caravan door and negotiated the two of them through it. He drew back the covers on his bed and placed her down on the mattress, finding it incredibly difficult to resist the overwhelming protective urge to lie down next to her and keep her safe from her nightmares.

Eddi opened her eyes and stifled a cry of alarm, the bed in which she found herself, was not her own, this was not good. She'd been sober for weeks now, and she bore no signs of a hangover- something was definitely amiss. Then she realised she was still wearing her uniform from the night before and there was no-one in the bed beside her. Confused, she scrabbled around so she was sat up in the bed and began to absorb her alien surroundings; quickly realising she was in a caravan, Luc's caravan to be more precise. What was going on? At that point the awful memories of what had happened to Sacha began to resurface, with a horrible sinking feeling she hoped this was some bizarre nightmare she had yet to wake up from.

"You can pinch yourself if you like." Luc said matter-of-factly, from the other side of the caravan where he was sat with his nose buried in a very scholarly looking book. "It won't work. Yes you did just wake up in my bed. The trauma of what happened to Sacha yesterday exhausted you to the point where you fell asleep on me when I found you in the wet-lab. I decided you might be more comfortable here so I carried you back. No-one saw, and in case you haven't already worked it out from your attire, no we didn't have sex." He explained, single-handedly answering all of her questions in one foul swoop. Feeling slightly over exposed at how he had pretty much just managed to read her mind, including the sex part, Eddi blushed crimson, uttering a simple "Thanks" in response.

"Why are you being so nice to me all of a sudden?" she quizzed a little too harshly before she could stop herself, "I don't understand," She admitted; "What's going on here Luc? I scream, shout and insult you on the ward and you don't seem remotely bothered, but then you decide to kiss me. A decision you made all by yourself by the way, then you decide to act like it never happened and now this. Help me out here."

For the first time since meeting the man, Eddi thought she spotted a flash of pure emotion cross his stony features before he regained his composure. Then she realised he was closing himself off.

"Oh no Luc, no you don't. You don't get to close off now. I'm grateful for what you've done for me, especially last night, but you can't leave me hanging like this." She continued bravely, as Luc shifted uncomfortably in his seat.

"And what if I have no explanation to offer?" He muttered after what seemed like an age. "What if I don't understand it myself? You've said it yourself before, I don't do emotions."

"Ok, then can you at least tell me what was going through your mind when you kissed me?" Eddi pleaded, wondering if she would ever be ready to hear the answer. "I'm not trying to make life difficult for you; I just need to know- ok?"

Luc hesitated for a moment, "I don't know it just seemed like the right thing to do at that moment in time. Same as mentoring Liam, same as coming to comfort you and bringing you here, it just seemed right.

"…And was it?" Eddi prompted, testing the water, there was no way she was going to reveal that much of herself to him, unless he did the same first.

"Well I thought so," Luc replied, slowly regaining his confidence. "Was I right?"

Now Eddi was the one out of her depth, his eyes were boring into hers, she looked away- realising she no longer had the upper hand. She drew a deep breath and thought inexplicably of Sacha- What if it had been Luc, lying almost lifeless on ITU? What would she have done?

"Oh what the hell." She muttered, before taking a deep breath. "If a kiss like that is my reward for 48 hours of sobriety, then I'd gladly give up booze for life." She whispered, her whole body trembling. There, she'd said it; she'd admitted it- she was attracted to him. More than that even.

Luc's eyes lit up at her words, his own heart hammering inside his chest. Eddi bit her lip, "I haven't had a drink since that day." She admitted. She was still staring at the ground, when she said this so she did not see him cross to her side of the caravan in two easy strides. In fact she was so shocked when he cupped her face with one hand and tenderly pressed his lips to hers that if it wasn't for his steadying hand on the small of her back, she would have toppled over on to the bed behind them.

It was in that very moment that Eddi realised rather unexpectedly, that even this simple gesture was the perfect summation of everything between them. Whether she chose to accept it or not, he was one of the biggest steadying forces in this fiery and passionate car crash that she called her life. He kept her feet on the ground when her head was off in the clouds and in the aftermath of everything that seemed to happen, he was always there to scoop her up, no matter how many pieces she was in. He was aloof, annoying and emotionally awkward, but he was hers if she wanted him and she knew now that she did. It wasn't going to be easy but she trusted him and if he was ready to give it a go, then so was she.

**There you go- I hope you liked it :) Please R+R and all that!**

**Much love xx  
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******Also thank you to 'Lectoris Aliquam' for your review on the version of this that I posted earlier today- I had to repost this because I noticed that I had missed some embarrassing typos and mistakes. Sadly I lost your review in the process but it is valuable nonetheless Kat xxxx  
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